Get Your Billion Back

H&R Block took a new approach to advertising for this year’s tax return season. They cleverly focused on one statistic that hits home with taxpayers: Last year American citizens left behind over a billion dollars by doing their own taxes. This particular spot out of the series breaks it down to $500 seat, if every professional football stadium seat in America were filled. This is money American’s earned and could have gotten back in their tax returns had they known how to file correctly.

The introduction to this ad is compelling and does an excellent job of setting the stage with visuals and the audio. The song, Evolving Doors, written by Chilly Gonzales, is paired with the ambient sounds of the money dropping onto the seats. The vendor is mindlessly dropping the money on what is revealed to be 2 million chairs. He takes a moment to think about how many seats he has left to go and does a subtle, but weary shake of his head. It is mind boggling for him to fathom finishing the task at hand. The ad also uses nice touches of green — in the vendor’s outfit, the narrator’s tie, and the graphics at the end — to tie back to their brand.

Fallon Worldwide, an agency based in Minneapolis, created this spot as well as three others. Each spot uses the same key elements and links back to the major billion-dollar statistic. Tom’s Guide, a tech guide for real life problems, review’s H&R Block’s ad as something to persuade the nervous and new taxpayers. They provide 24/7 chat services, and have a double error-check system to guarantee a maximum refund.

I prepare my own taxes. I have a full-time job, freelance at times, own a home, make yearly charitable donations and have education expenses, so my taxes are anything but straightforward. I have deductibles and credits to consider and it gets tricky. So I asked myself, by doing my own taxes, am I missing out? Is a little piece of my pie getting lost in this big billion-dollar figure? Now this year I did my taxes on the first day possible and didn’t see this ad until after, but it really has me thinking for next year. The single thing I think is missing from these commercials is stating a “starting at” price. I filed my state and federal taxes for under $50 with H&R Block’s online self-preparation tool. I could possibly be persuaded to do my taxes with an accountant, if the price were right.